Judges in the Classroom Lesson Plan - Utah State Courts



Judges in the Classroom Lesson Plan

Search and Seizure In Utah

Introduction:

Americans have always valued their privacy. They expect to be left alone, to be free from unwarranted snooping or spying, and to be secure in their own homes. This expectation of privacy is important and is protected by the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment sets out the right to be free from “unreasonable searches and seizures” and establishes conditions under which search warrants may be used.

Balanced against the individual’s right to privacy is the government’s need to gather information. In the case of the police, this is the need to collect evidence against criminals and to protect society against crime.

The Fourth Amendment does not give citizens an absolute right to privacy, and it does not prohibit all searches—only those that are unreasonable. In deciding if a search is reasonable, the courts look to the facts and circumstances of each case. As a general rule, courts have found searches and seizures reasonable when authorized by a valid warrant. In addition, courts have recognized that certain searches conducted without a warrant can also be reasonable.

(For more information, go to Street Law website at

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Objectives:

1. Students will identify legal requirements of searches conducted with and without a warrant.

1. Students will identify the legal standard for conducting searches in public schools.

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Grade Level:

Grades 9-12

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Time:

One class period (approximately 50 minutes).

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Materials:

One copy of Handout 1 (School Search Case Study) for each student.

Note: This lesson assumes the teacher has already taught students the two constitutional sources of rights for search and seizure, identified the competing interests of privacy and law enforcement, and taught the state statute on school searches, Utah Code Ann. § 78-3e-1, et seq.

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Procedures:

1. Begin the class by introducing yourself and telling a little bit about what you do. Tell students that today's class will deal with search and seizure. You might also describe to students how your particular judicial responsibilities relate to search and seizure: authorizing warrants, ruling on motions to suppress, reviewing on appeal the admission of questioned evidence, etc.

1. Tell students that both the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 14 of the Utah State Constitution require that warrants issue "upon probable cause." Ask students what that means.

Explain that judicial officers considering whether or not to permit the search must have a sufficient amount of information before issuing a search warrant. If the information is not enough to amount to probable cause, the judicial officer must deny the request for a warrant. Report on any recent example in which you denied an officer's request for a warrant or ruled that a search done with or without a warrant was unconstitutional.

1. Draw this line graph on the board to demonstrate probable cause.

This scale measures how much information is required, and what kind of information.

|0% | | |

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|First District |X |  |

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|Second District |  |X |

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|Third District  | |X |

1. Refer to the chart and ask one of the districts that ruled that the vice-principal's search was constitutional to give only one reason why the search was constitutional. Then, ask a district that ruled the student's rights were violated by the search to give one reason why. Make sure that each district has a chance to provide at least one reason why it ruled as it did.

In the unlikely event that all students vote the same way, ask students to think like lawyers and provide the arguments to support the other view. Allow up to 15 minutes for group responses and discussion.

2. Let students know that in this case, State v. Slattery, 787 P.2d 932, review denied, 791 P.2d 534 (1990), the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that under the school search exception to the warrant requirement, this search was legal. The court determined that the search was reasonable, based on an analysis of the same two factors used to analyze Utah searches: whether it was justified at the start of the search and whether the search was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justified the interference in the first place.

3. Review the standard for school searches and compare it to the standard of probable cause required to obtain a search warrant for searches of a person's home. Ask students to justify this difference if they can.

4. Conclude with a comment on the tension between efficient police work and privacy of the individual.

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HANDOUT 1

SCHOOL SEARCH CASE STUDY

A junior contacted the high school vice-principal to report that another junior student, Michael Slattery, was selling marijuana in the school parking lot. The vice-principal had received reports that Slattery was involved with drugs before from a senior who had provided the vice-principal with reliable information about illegal activities of other students in the past.

The vice-principal then called Slattery into his office and asked him to empty his pockets. Slattery was carrying $230 cash in small bills and a piece of paper with a telephone pager number on it. The vice-principal knew that drug dealers often use pagers. The vice-principal called school security who searched Slattery's locker but found nothing.

When the vice-principal told Slattery they would have to search his car, which was parked in the school lot, Slattery refused. After speaking to Slattery's mother by phone, Slattery turned over the keys. The school officials found a pager and a notebook inside the car. The notebook had names with dollar amounts written next to the names. They opened the locked trunk of the car and found a locked briefcase. Slattery first said he didn't know who owned the briefcase, then he said a friend owned it and that he did not know the combination. The school security officers pried it open and discovered 80.2 grams of marijuana. Police were called and Slattery was arrested.

Slattery claims that the searches of his official person, his locker, car, and locked briefcase were unconstitutional. Decide if the searches were constitutional and give your reasons.

Source:

Modified and updated with permission in 2006 by the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) for Judicial outreach in Utah. For more information regarding Utah’s modifications, contact AOC Public Information Office, 450 South State Street, P.O. Box 140241, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84114.

Written by the Institute for Citizen Education in the Law, Seattle WA, to complement the student edition of Street Law (6th ed.), and updated in 1999. Staff at the Washington State Office of the Administrator for the Courts (OAC) edited the lesson. For more information, contact OAC Judicial Education, 1206 Quince Street SE, PO Box 41170, Olympia, WA 98504-1170.

(For more information, go to Street Law website at

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